Clockroot Books

Why Clockroot? A clock is the puffball head of a dandelion, that resilient invader whose seeds sow themselves in even the most inhospitable soil, whose roots are stubborn, penetrating, wilier than spades. A dandelion is a spot of wild, sunny disorder in the vast green American lawn—an assault against its propriety.

Think of Clockroot Books as the literary equivalent of the movement to return lawn to meadows and wildflowers and vegetables. A celebration of a wilder literature, in which each work seems as inevitable as a dandelion spotting the lawn, as clarifying as bitter greens at winter’s end. Works in translation are a crucial starting point for Clockroot, but most importantly, we’re interested in writing that confronts, that feels urgent, disorienting, vivid.

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Blue Has No SouthAlex Epstein; translated by Becka Mara McKay"Their love story ended many years ago. He still writes her name as a solution to crossword puzzle clues of suitable length."

Amal: the practical sister who digs up the “diamond key” that unlocks the mystery of Pakicetus, a whale-dog creature...$18.00

In the House Un-AmericanBenjamin HollanderA FICTION FOR OUR TIMES AND A RADICAL PROOF THAT “AMERICA WAS FABLE BEFORE IT BECAME FACT.”

“It is difficult to speak of Benjamin Hollander’s masterpiece, so America, so like an inner emigration, as if we had all changed na...$15.00

Kassandra and the WolfMargarita Karapanou; translated by N.C. Germanacos“No retelling of Kassandra and the Wolf can explain its charm, or its riddles. … [It] is one of those rare creations that come alive mysteriously, without any antecedents. The book is original, terrifying, complete. It inven...$15.00

Landscape with Dogand Other StoriesErsi Sotiropoulos; translated by Karen Emmerich“Let’s just say that Giacometti was setting out to draw a face. If he started with the chin, he would worry that he might never reach the nose. The longer he sketched the face, the harder he tried to offer a faithful representation of it,...$15.00

Life and Memoirs of Doctor Piand Other StoriesEdgar Bayley; translated by Emily ToderThe first English translation of a major Argentine literary figure

Doctor Pi—a sleuth without a crime. A flâneur on official business. Organizer of unknowable expeditions, lover of brunettes. Doctor Pi, with his frock...$13.00

Literature and WarConversations with Israeli and Palestinian WritersRuno Isaksen; translated by Kari Dickson“The first step toward real peace must be to get to know the other side, its culture and creativity.” —Mahmoud Darwish

Novelist and journalist Runo Isaksen undertook these interviews with p...$18.00

“The short texts of Alex Epstein virtuously echo the great tradition of world literature in a truly original manner, as the tension between the classical and the intuitiv...$15.00

Rien ne va PlusMargarita Karapanou; translated by Karen EmmerichThe story is simple: a love affair ends badly. A woman and a man marry, then cruelty, infidelity, and divorce. But this novel tells their story twice, from opposing perspectives. Our sympathies are inverted; we don’t know whom to trust; the dis...$15.00

Sleepwalker, TheMargarita Karapanou; translated by Karen EmmerichWinner of the Prix de meilleur livre étranger/Prize for the best foreign novel, France

At the opening of Margarita Karapanou's stunning second novel, in disgust at mankind God vomits a new Messiah onto the earth. Or rat...$16.00

So Good in BlackSunetra GuptaA superbly crafted novel from award-winning Indian novelist Sunetra Gupta

“Sunetra Gupta’s work is genuinely challenging, rare and enriching... The creator of a prose which is capable of the subtlest artistic resonance, sh...$18.00